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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / February 2004Willie-nilly
"Willie-nilly I will go decreasing ..." Please tell me what willie-nilly means. Should it be written otherwise? Is it a much used expression? Please elaborate. Thanks. M.R. -----------30--------------------------- >"Willie-nilly I will go decreasing ..." Please tell me what willie-nilly >means. Should it be written otherwise? Is it a much used expression? Please >elaborate. Thanks. Willy-nilly, adverb or adjective alteration of will I nill I or will ye nill ye or will he nill he It means 'without choice'. "Willy-nilly young man, you're going to school this morning!" Thanks a million John. This is what someone could call professional and speedy service. M.R. -----------30--------------------- "John Ings" <nodamned@spam.org> a écrit dans le message de news:206k30tscpdrsjqt3vkfdmr8un573hf50h@4ax.com... > >"Willie-nilly I will go decreasing ..." Please tell me what willie-nilly > >means. Should it be written otherwise? Is it a much used expression? Please [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > "Willy-nilly young man, you're going to school this morning!" Willy-nilly (usual spelling) also (and in my experience more commonly) means chaotically, without any order, as in "I hurriedly threw my clothes willy-nilly into my suitcase". However, in the example you give, I'm not sure what the sense is. It's not a commonly used expression, and is informal. >>"Willie-nilly I will go decreasing ..." Please tell me what willie-nilly >>means. Should it be written otherwise? Is it a much used expression? Please >>elaborate. Thanks. >Willy-nilly (usual spelling) also (and in my experience more commonly) >means chaotically, without any order, as in "I hurriedly threw my >clothes willy-nilly into my suitcase". Are you sure you're not thinking of helter-skelter? Bill Bonde ( Straight invective is not satire; satire must deliberately overshoot its mark. ) - 24 Feb 2004 01:22 GMT John Ings wrote: > >Willy-nilly (usual spelling) also (and in my experience more commonly) > >means chaotically, without any order, as in "I hurriedly threw my > >clothes willy-nilly into my suitcase". > > Are you sure you're not thinking of helter-skelter? One meaning for willy-nilly is randomly, without order. Helter-skelter has kinda been on the outs since Charles Manson went nuts. On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 17:22:52 -0800, "Bill Bonde ( Straight invective is not satire; satire must deliberately overshoot its mark. )" <stderr2@backpacker.com> wrote: >> >Willy-nilly (usual spelling) also (and in my experience more commonly) >> >means chaotically, without any order, as in "I hurriedly threw my [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >One meaning for willy-nilly is randomly, without order. Helter-skelter >has kinda been on the outs since Charles Manson went nuts. Then there's higgledy-piggledy >Are you sure you're not thinking of helter-skelter? Nope. The Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary gives willy-nilly as: "without any order" and gives as an example "She threw her clothes willy-nilly into a drawer." |
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